The Tax Refund

Red receives an unexpected yet instantly accepted tax refund. However, Harold has his doubts about the whole thing.

Cast (in order of appearance):, , , , , ,

Segments: Red's Campfire Songs, The Possum Lodge Word Game, Handyman Corner, Red's Sage Advice, Possum 911, Adventures With Bill, The Experts

DVD: Red Green: Stuffed and Mounted, Vol. 4

Watch the episode on YouTube

DVD Commentary by Steve Smith
{from Stuffed and Mounted}

STEVE SMITH: Rick Green– not Red Green, Rick Green created "The Red Green Show" with me, and he plays Bill on the "Adventures With Bill" part like on our first seven or eight seasons; he was doing that. And the thing with Rick is, he likes to be a little bit odd, a little bit crazy, and then he'll go maybe, I don't know, a hundred steps beyond that. And sometimes, when we were doing the Adventures With Bill, he would always do something that was so unbelievable that he was like daring the audience to question his– his part of his joy of working. So in this episode that you're about to see in this show, where he's crushing grapes, try to make his own wine, and there's a scene near the end where his arms are completely flat! Like, to me, it is so obvious that those are little pieces of white cardboard– {covers his mouth suddenly} Oh, I hope I haven't given it away, but... take a look. If you think that Rick went too far, please e-mail him immediately. And in fact, I'll give... I'll give ya his home number, 'cause I know he'd really like to talk to ya.

Segment Summary
See also: Transcript

Plot: Red receives a tax refund from the government, but Harold keeps thinking that it might be a mistake and insists that Red phone the tax department, which Red keeps refusing to do. He makes out his refund check completely in cash. Harold warns Red that that is dishonest and if the government finds out, Red will get nailed. Red decides to make Harold happy by dividing his refund money among other lodge members so that the money will soon be back in the economy. Red soon becomes happy again because now the lodge members owe him a favor. However, he is soon dismayed to learn that Harold had phoned the tax department and was told that the money came from Red exceeding his medical expenses, that the money was actually not from a refund, but a rebate, and that it was legitimate all along.

Adventures With Bill: Bill tries various methods of crushing grapes to make wine.

Red's Campfire Song: A spirit in a campfire.

The Possum Lodge Word Game: Mike tries to guess the word "address" to win a year's supply of unmarked pharmaceuticals from the Crankhouse Pharmacy.

Handyman Corner: Red makes an amphibious car by duct-taping a boat and a boat trailer together.

Red's Sage Advice: What to expect when your wife wants to have the one more child.

Possum 911: Someone from a residence known as the Winslows calls because the Winslows' dog is trying to stop a burglar from stealing a TV set.

The Experts: Winston explains how to save a viewer's car rental business, by striving to be first.

Explanations

 * In the Word Game, Mike mentions the number 666, which is traditionally referred to as the Number of the Beast.

Inside References

 * Adventures With Bill includes an instance of things being pulled out of Bill's overalls.
 * When Bill tosses the sledgehammer aside, it knocks the left rear-view mirror off the Possum Van.

Real-World References

 * The part of Red's song on "the artist formerly known as tree" refers to Prince, who for a time was called "The Artist Formerly Known as Prince".
 * "Honest Abe" was a nickname for former U.S. President Abraham Lincoln.
 * Unable to figure out what's going on during Possum 911, Red exclaims, "Houston, we have a problem!" This line was originally said by the crew of the U.S.A.'s Apollo 13 moon flight to report a major technical problem back to their Houston base.
 * This phrase was also used as the tagline for the movie Apollo 13.

Famous People

 * Harold mentions the TV show Baywatch Nights, and one of its guest stars, Pamela Lee Anderson.
 * Red claims that the car-to-wine-press pulley is a technique that "dates back to the days of Henry Ford." Ford was the American founder of the Ford Motor Co. and the father of modern assembly lines used in mass production.

Fast Forward

 * In The Battle Call, Red's Handyman Corner project would also involve (albeit as a side bonus) making an amphibious car.